If you’re a fan of the likes of vintage Weather Report and Return to Forever, keyboardist and arranger Tobin Mueller is going to be your buddy if you check out this latest “Best Of” album. The songs are culled from a wide swath of his catalogue, but the unifying thing is a kindred spirit to swinging fusion arrangements of songs you might or should be familiar with.Yes, there is even a take of Weather Report’s classic “Birdland”, but in Mueller’s hands it is wildly juxtaposed with Yes’ “Long Distance Runaround” and tied together with Woody Mankowski’s sinewy soprano sax. Duke Ellington’s “Take The ‘A’ Train” gets lit up with some hip bass and drums by Mueller and Lamar Moore, respectively for a sizzlingly plugged in read. Billie Holiday’s “God Bless The Child” is dressed up in a soul struttin’ outfit, with some quirky reed work supplied by Mankowski. The Afro Sheen is shakingwith guitarist Paul Nelson doing a wacka wooka’d version of Sly and the Family Stone’s “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” and even Tower of Power leans like the Tower of Pisa on a big and bold dig of “What Is Hip”. Other 70s hits include a percolating “Superstition” with percussionist Ruben de Ruiter, while a take of The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby” could be an unreleased track from Heavy Weather, as bassist Kenny Cash lays down the law.
Jazz standards get turned on their electrified head, as John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” simmers with Bill Barner’s clarinet around Mueller’s fretless bass, “Stardust” gets some Enja-ish synth work, and “Straight, No Chaser” goes herky-jerky with piano and drum doing a sonic tug of war. Bop classics “Moanin’” and “Blue Monk” snap to Nappi’s drums and Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man” goes beyond head hunting with David Dejesus’s feathery flute. Yes, there are a handful of originals on this overflowing collection of tunes, but it’s going to be the sprucing up of songs that you thought you knew that are going to draw you into this world of kaleidoscopic covers. Anyone got an 8 track of this?